


Painted Love

by misura



Category: Troubleshooters Inc. - Suzanne Brockmann
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-13
Updated: 2008-10-13
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1626680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Robin watched Jules buy a painting in Mexico.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painted Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coprime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coprime/gifts).



> set in between _Force of Nature_ and _All Through the Night_.

Jules bent forwards to take a closer look at a painting and Robin reminded himself that in just a short while, they'd be back at their hotel-room. Half an hour - thirty minutes. Not long at all, he told himself, until he'd have Jules all to himself again, his to touch and kiss and do other things even Robin wouldn't normally consider doing in public, although when Jules went and put on a display like that, all of Robin's sense of appropriateness flew right out the window, together with most of his self-control.

Knowing that Jules wasn't even aware of it only made things worse. There was something incredible sexy about the way Jules seemed so utterly oblivious to the effect he had on not just Robin but people in general. Part of it, Robin suspected, was the fact that Jules was FBI; he had a kind of presence, something that made people sit up and pay attention. There was more to it than that though.

In a word, Jules was simply hot. Sizzling, makes-your-mouth-go-dry and makes-you-need-a-cold-shower hot. Of course, Robin was a bit prejudiced, but still. Robin knew he was pretty good-looking himself (because hello, big-time moviestar) yet he felt he couldn't hold a candle to Jules. Who was going to drive him crazy if he kept standing bent forwards like that much longer.

Robin put his hands in his pockets so as to reduce the temptation to put them where they wouldn't be welcome as much as possible and took a step forwards to see what had captivated Jules' attention like that. In theory, they'd been supposed to just look around for a place to get dinner later today, but then they'd passed a square where there was some kind of market going on and Jules had reminded Robin that he'd promised Dolphina he'd bring her back something nice as a 'thank you'-present for having arranged the plane-tickets for this trip on such short notice, and might they not use this opportunity to look for that as well?

At the time, it had seemed like a good idea. Robin hadn't really given much thought to Dolphina's present so far. He was with Jules, away from work and those nosy photographers that seemed to follow him everywhere. The plan was to forget about everything for two days - and even though he genuinely liked Dolphina, she was still a reminder of work, which was one of the things he wasn't going to think about this weekend. If Jules had some good idea as to what Dolphina'd like, that was fine with Robin.

However, at present, it looked more like Jules was just going to spend the next few hours going over the contents of each and every stall in the square, and that, Robin decided, wasn't quite so fine - even if the view of Jules's ass as he bent to take a closer look? Almost enough to be worth the delay.

The object of Jules's attention, Robin saw, was a modest-sized painting, perfect for a place over say, the fireplace. Nice enough, Robin supposed, in an ordinary sort of way.

He cleared his throat. "Do you think Dolphina'd like it?"

Jules blinked, as if he'd actually forgotten Robin was there. Maybe it was just the heat, Robin reasoned - Jules wasn't quite used to these kinds of temperatures. Yet another excellent reason to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible; their room had state-of-the-art airconditioning, not to mention a bathtub large enough for two, provided the two people in question didn't mind getting up, close and personal. The shower was none too small either, although the floor tiles could get a little slippery when wet.

"I'm not sure about Dolphina," Jules said, looking a little sheepish. "I wasn't thinking of buying it for her, actually. I was thinking of buying it for, well. Me."

Robin'd be willing to bet Jules had edited that last word at the last second. And given that Jules wasn't exactly the type to go around buying paintings for people he didn't want to tell Robin about, it wasn't that hard to guess what the original ending to that line had been.

Jules was thinking of the two of them sharing a house. Had been thinking about buying the painting and putting it in a room somewhere, as a memento of this weekend. Had possibly even been thinking about what the house would look like, and how he and Robin would be making it their home.

Robin didn't know what to say. Because yes, he wanted to share a home with Jules, as well as the rest of his life, but just now, he hadn't been thinking about any of those things. He'd just been staring at Jules's ass and thinking about how badly he wished they were back at the hotel and making love. And while Jules probably wouldn't mind that, Robin still felt a little ashamed of himself.

Jules straightened. "Do you like it?"

Robin noticed the owner of the stall heading their way. He'd probably seen Jules staring and had adjusted the painting's price accordingly. On the other hand, Jules was nobody's fool; his skills at haggling had surprised even Robin, who'd heard plenty about Jules's boss Max and his legendary skills at negotiation, which were part pure natural skill and part simple psychological know-how, to guess Jules had learned some of his tricks. Perhaps all members of the FBI had gotten some training in stuff like that. For all that he was dating one, Robin really didn't know that much about what went on behind the scenes of the FBI; Jules talked about his job freely, but always in generalities and he never, ever mentioned names other than that of people Robin knew, like his best friends Alyssa and Sam.

"Yes, I like it," Robin replied, thinking of the home he and Jules might share one day. "I like it a lot."

Jules smiled at him and for a moment, Robin thought his heart was going to stop beating, because it was always as if Jules could see right into his mind. Jules didn't say anything more though, simply turning to the seller and addressing him in Spanish.

Robin tried to follow the general drift of the conversation, but by the time the sale was finished, with Jules accepting the painting wrapped in some old newspapers and the seller accepting a handful of American dollarbills, Robin had no idea who had gotten the better end of the bargain. Jules seemed happy enough, his expression content as he made sure his wallet was safely returned to its place.

"Sorry."

"What for?" Robin asked, honestly puzzled.

"For not finding you the perfect gift to keep your promise to Dolphina?"

Possibly it was just Robin's imagination that Jules placed a slight emphasis on the words 'you' and 'your' in that sentence. Jules did have a point, of course; it was Robin who'd made the promise, so by rights, Robin should be the one to go hunting for the present. At the very least, he could have joined Jules in his browsing of the market, instead of just tagging along, not really paying much attention to anything.

"There's another full day left to find something," he said. "Can't we go back to the hotel now?"

Jules's expression was a little amused and a lot heated. Clearly, Robin wasn't quite alone in wanting to go back to a place that was a bit more ... private. Robin felt his knees go a little wobbly. It didn't seem to matter that only this morning they'd shared a shower and showed up downstairs almost too late to still be able to get breakfast; when Jules looked at him like that, Robin felt like it had been far too long.

"All right," Jules said, patting the painting. "I wouldn't want to carry this around all day anyway."

Monday, Robin reflected ruefully as he and Jules walked back to their hotel, would come far too soon.

 


End file.
